Ikkyu: Love Letters

Every day, priests minutely examine the Dharma

and endlessly chant complicated sutras.

Before doing that, though, they should learn

how to read the love letters

sent by the wind and rain, the snow and moon.

Source: Great Middle Way

Ikkyū (Ikkyū Sōjun, 1394–1481) was an eccentric iconoclastic Japanese Zen Buddhist monk and poet. He had a great impact on the infusion of Japanese art and literature with Zen attitudes and ideals.